The Storm and the Fury 2/2
Story: The Storm and the Fury
Author: wmr wendymr
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Jack Harkness, Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: BBC's universe, my imagination
Summary: "Stop looking like you'd rather be facing an army of Zygons than here!" Sequel to Technically Hitched
Written for shengirl as a pinch-hit in the 2009 OT3 Ficathon - sorry it's so late, but I got whumped pretty badly by a nasty bug and am still on antibiotics. With thanks to kae_nine and dark_aegis for help with this! Prompt will be shared at the end.
Chapter 1: Into the Lion's Den
Chapter 2: Immovable Objects and Irresistible Forces
“Doctor!” Disbelieving, she stares at him. What was he thinking?
“All right, Rose.” He stands, shaking his head impatiently at her. Oh, yeah, she knows that look. It’s his patented I know I’ve done something stupid, so don’t rub it in glare.
Well, he got them into this. He can bloody well get them o-
“Jackie. ‘S not what you think.”
Oh, no. No, he didn’t. Her heart sinks and her stomach starts churning. He did, and it’s the worst thing he could possibly have said. Because it’s exactly what her mum thinks, and her mum’s far from the stupid ape the Doctor’s probably thinking she is.
“Oh, yeah?” Her mum’s got her hands on her hips now, and both Jack and the Doctor are sharing the impact of her glare. Her mum’s not looking at her, but she can feel her hands shaking. “So you two blokes aren’t both sleeping with Rose? Having sex with her?”
Jack stands and moves around the coffee-table, then bends and starts picking up the contents of the tray her mum dropped. Bad move. Her mum glowers down at him. “Don’t think that’s getting you off the hook, mate. You an’ him - what, you plan it together? Get her drunk and seduce her one night? Easy enough, all alone up there in space in that ship of yours. Make you feel good, did it?”
“Mum!” Manoeuvring around Jack, even though she’s still shaking, she gets up into her mum’s face. “That’s not fair. It wasn’t like that, anyway. They didn’t seduce me. It was mutual - what we all wanted. Including me.”
“You an’ two blokes? What, do they have you alternate nights, or is all three of you in the one bed?” Scorn drips from her mother’s voice, and she finds herself shrinking back. She might be going on twenty, but her mum can still make her feel no bigger than an ant - and about as troublesome. “There are names for girls like you.”
“An’ if you utter even one of them then all three of us are leaving an’ never coming back,” the Doctor says, a note of terrible warning in his voice. Now he’s scary, and she can see why, as Jack told her once, he’s known by names like the Oncoming Storm and the Bringer of Darkness among his enemies.
“Don’t you dare threaten me in my own home!”
Oh, god. It’s going from bad to worse. No-one’s going to win this. Her mum’ll throw them out and she’s going to have to live with knowing Jack and the Doctor despise her mother, and that her mother thinks she’s a slut.
Ignoring the sick feeling in her stomach, she pushes between the Doctor and her mum. “You’re a fine one to talk, anyway. How many boyfriends have you had in the last year alone?”
“At least I only ever had one at once!”
“Whoa!” Jack’s voice, loud enough to drown all of them out, stuns her into silence. “Enough! Quit raising the stakes, all of you, and let’s sit down and discuss this like adults, all right?”
***
Discuss what like adults? The fact that her daughter’s shagging two blokes, one of them old enough to be her dad and alien besides, and the other who’s too smooth for his own good and looks like he could be bloody dangerous as well?
They both need to feel the flat of her hand, they do. All three of them, in fact - Rose isn’t too old for a good slap either, little madam that she is.
But she doesn’t lash out, easy though it’d be, as close as she’s standing to that bloody alien and to Rose. Maybe that Jack’s got a point. If she slaps them, or if she says the words that’re on the tip of her tongue, what happens?
It’s obvious what happens, isn’t it? They’ll be gone, all three of them. She’ll never see or speak to Rose again. Jackie Tyler knows her daughter too well to expect anything else. Every bit as stubborn as she is herself, Rose is. And as for the Doctor, she’s seen him carry through his threats, hasn’t she? He warned those Slitheen things, and then he stopped them, just as he said he would. He killed them. Yeah, they deserved it, but there’s something about him that makes her wonder if that even mattered to him.
Before she can say anything, the Doctor’s speaking. “He’s right.” The alien takes a step back, dropping a hand onto Rose’s shoulder at the same time. “Come on, Rose. Won’t solve anythin’ like this.”
And that’s when Jackie knows that, unless she treads very carefully here, she’ll have lost her daughter permanently. Because Rose looks up at the Doctor, and the love and trust in her eyes is a look Jackie’s used to seeing directed at her, and she’s only seen it directed at one bloke before. Jimmy Stone, and wasn’t that a disaster right from the start? She nearly lost Rose over him. She’s not going to make the same mistake again.
So, as Rose slides one hand into the Doctor’s, and reaches out to Jack with the other, Jackie looks straight at the three of them, squashing all the hostility and fear she’s felt from the instant she realised what’s going on. “Right, then. Sit down an’ start talking, all of you. I’m listenin’.”
***
Disaster averted - for now, at least. He would’ve expected the Doctor to know better, even if Rose and her mum let their emotions run away with them.
Now, as long as none of them says anything else stupid, or winds somebody up - well, the best way to avoid that is to keep charge of the situation. Take the initiative. Yes, Jackie Tyler thinks he and the Doctor are perverts who need to be arrested, and she’s probably convinced that Rose is either brainwashed or seriously misguided, but the situation’s not irretrievable. Or so he hopes, anyway.
Jack leans forward in the chair he’s just resumed, resting his joined hands on his knees. “Jackie - Mrs Tyler - I’m not surprised you’re upset, and I can understand why. But it’s not like you’re thinking.”
Jackie looks straight at him and raises her eyebrows, and abruptly he feels as if he’s twelve again. “He already tried that one.” She jerks her head towards the Doctor. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Captain Jack Harkness - assuming that’s even your real name.” He tries not to twitch. “You trying to tell me you’re not sleeping with my daughter?”
“No, I’m not trying to tell you that.” Time Agency stress training has its benefits. He smiles at Jackie, careful not to appear over-confident. “We’re in a relationship, the three of us. It’s not just sex, Jackie.”
The Doctor’s unusually silent, which Jack takes as implicit permission to keep control of the conversation. Rose, sitting next to the Doctor on the sofa, and opposite her mum in the other armchair, holds the Doctor’s hand. At least she’s looking less defiant now. Well, more worried than anything else.
“Not just sex? What’s that supposed to mean?” Jackie’s still sounding sceptical, but at least she’s not looking as if she’s two steps away from calling the police any more.
Cards on the table, then. “I love Rose. And so does he, though he’ll never say it.” He inclines his head in the Doctor’s direction. The Doctor grunts something that could be agreement, though it could just as easily be a warning never to touch his precious sonic screwdriver again. “I’d love her regardless of whether I was having sex with her.” He shrugs. “Whether or not you believe it, or whether or not that makes anything better, that’s the way it is between us.”
“Thing is, Jackie,” the Doctor says abruptly, dropping Rose’s hand and sitting forward, “this sort o’ thing is common all around the universe - an’ in your planet’s future, too. Like Jack’s time. He’s from the fifty-first century. Can even have threesome, foursome marriages when he’s from, an’ on plenty of other planets too.”
“An’ that’s supposed to make it all right? This is Earth, 2006, in case you lot had forgotten.” Jackie’s eyes flash. “S’pose next you’re gonna tell me I’m just backward, right?”
“Course not,” the Doctor retorts before Jack can say a word. “Just explainin’ how we see it, that’s all.”
“Yeah?” She’s still belligerent. Unless they can find a way to make a breakthrough pretty soon, this is going to end badly, and Rose will be upset.
“Mum.” Rose stands suddenly. “How about some more tea, yeah?”
***
It’s not fair to leave her men to make all the explanations - or take all the rough edge of her mum’s tongue.
Back in the kitchen - and trying to hide her relief that her mum actually came with her - she fills the kettle and sets out a fresh tray before turning to her mum. “It’s true, what Jack said. I love them both. They love me too.” Reaching for teabags, she adds, “I know it’s not what you ever imagined for me, but I’m happy, Mum, I really am. They look after me an’ I look after them.”
Her mum’s silent as she rinses out the cups Jack rescued from the floor. Definitely an ominous sign, she knows, because her mum’s never quiet. Finally, though, she turns and just looks at Rose for several seconds before nodding.
“Yeah. I can see you’re happy, sweetheart. I still don’t like it.”
“Mum-”
“No, you let me have my say, Rose Tyler. You owe me that much. You weren’t gonna tell me about any of this, were you? If that Doctor hadn’t opened his mouth an’ stuck his foot in it I still wouldn’t have a clue that my own daughter’s havin’ a fling with two blokes.”
True. But there were good reasons for that, starting with the way her mum launched into the three of them out there. “We didn’t-”
“Oh, I know you’re an adult. Not as if I can stop you doing anything you want to do, can I?” Her mum’s on a roll now. There’s no stopping her. “I’m your mum, Rose, not your jailer. I want you to tell me stuff, not cause...” She sighs, leaning against the sink. “I hardly see you these days, an’ you don’t phone much, either.”
So that’s it. Well, part of it, anyway. “Thing is, when I do tell you stuff you throw a fit.” She pulls a face, then moves closer to her mum, reaching out to pull her close. “But, all right, I’m sorry. An’ I know you’re worried about me, but you don’t have to be. Like I said, they’re good blokes. They’re not taking advantage.”
“Yeah, I know that.” Rose’s eyes widen and she pulls back, staring at her mother. “Can see it, can’t I? That Doctor bloke - I might not like ‘im, but it’s obvious to a blind man that he’d never hurt you. An’ that Jack... I can see it in his face every time he looks at you. Look, maybe it’s not what I’m used to, but you’ve got two gorgeous blokes crazy about you. You’d be a fool not to be up for that.” Her mum smiles, and it’s almost wistful. “Course you’re happy, an’ course I’m not gonna say you shouldn’t be. I’m not even upset about the fact that you’re sleepin’ with both of them. Should be, I s’pose, but I’m not.”
That sends a jolt through her. “You’re not?”
“No. Was just a shock, that’s all. No, what worries me is what happens when those two get tired of playin’ happy families, that’s all.”
She’s about to protest that she’s not naïve, that she knows it won’t last, when she remembers the last time her mum said something along those lines with that same look of worry in her eyes. It was when she announced she was leaving school and moving in with Jimmy Stone. She completely ignored all her mum’s warnings that it wouldn’t work, that blokes like Jimmy never stay around very long and that she was likely to find herself dumped and alone - and, unless she was sensible, pregnant. Jimmy wasn’t like that, she insisted. Her mum was too bloody cynical about men.
Of course, her mum was right. Then, anyway. Now, she’s got more sense than to expect happy ever. Not from blokes as used to moving on as the Doctor and Jack.
Hasn’t her mum got good reason to be cynical, though? All the men she’d pinned hopes on over the years who turned out to be not what they seemed. And, as a memory returns of her mum’s face back in 1987, outside the church, another possibility occurs to her. Maybe her dad wasn’t the innocent one; maybe her mum had grounds for accusing him of always sticking to the closest blonde.
“Mum.” She lays a hand on her mother’s shoulder. “I know the Doctor and Jack aren’t the happy ever after type. I’ve already thought about that, yeah? I’m gonna enjoy this for as long as it lasts, but I’m not naïve enough to think this is the rest of my life.”
The relief that instantly appears in her mum’s eyes makes her glad she made the effort. “Rose, love-”
“Jackie.” The Doctor’s voice comes from the doorway, interrupting them. “Jack an’ I need to tell you something else.”
She turns and gives the Doctor a puzzled look. Behind him, Jack catches her eye, then holds up his left hand to reveal his ring securely back on his finger. Her gaze shoots to the Doctor. He’s wearing his ring as well - and he’s holding out his hand towards her mum, palm down.
“See? The ring, I mean. Rose has one too. We all do.”
***
What?
“You trying to tell me you’re married, an’ all?”
She has to lean back against the counter for support. She’s only just got her head around the idea that Rose is shagging two blokes, one alien and the other from the future, in that TARDIS-thing out there in space. It was a relief when Rose said it wasn’t serious, that she wasn’t imagining it’d last forever.
And now this? “Rose? You didn’t say a word about this!”
Rose is looking dumbstruck, as if the blokes just blindsided her. Her mouth opens, but she can’t seem to say a word.
“It’s not marriage, exactly.” Jack steps forward and into the kitchen, brushing past the Doctor. The room suddenly feels tiny. “They’re bonding rings. It’s like... I suppose the simplest way to describe it is a promise to each other-”
“To trust an’ love an’ defend each other as long as we stay together.” Jackie’s mouth slackens, both at the Doctor’s words and the fact that he’s come to stand behind Jack, laying one hand on Jack’s shoulder and the other on Rose’s.
All three of them? The Doctor and Jack are...? Yeah, they are. It’s plain as the nose on her face now. She should have seen it sooner.
Rose is digging in her jeans pocket, and there it is - a ring, smaller than the other two, and silver-coloured instead of black, but with the same design.
Not married, that Jack bloke’s said, but it feels bloody like it. Looks like it, too.
“The Doctor’s right,” Rose says, looking up at Jackie as she slides the ring back on her finger - where the skin’s already a bit paler and there’s even a faint indentation. “We’re there for each other, whatever happens. ‘S like... well, sort of like being married, but without the till death us do part bit.”
“You weren’t even going to tell me,” she says, and part of her wants to yell at them and kick them out of her flat. After all, if Rose can’t even tell her about this what does that say about her place in her daughter’s life?
On the other hand, if she does that she’s the one who’ll lose, isn’t she? She’ll lose her daughter.
“That was my fault, Jackie.” The Doctor even looks apologetic. “I told Rose not to. Figured you’d be upset. Well, not as if I’m one of your favourite people, is it?”
No argument from her there. But, all the same... well, he has made Rose happier than she’s been ever since before Jimmy Stone, hasn’t he? And it’s obvious that the two of them would die before they let anything happen to her.
And they came home with Rose. Came to see her. They didn’t have to do that. Could have just let Rose visit on her own. But they came. That counts for something, doesn’t it?
It’s down to her now, isn’t it? And holding onto her pride’s not worth the cost.
“Well, s’pose that makes you both family now, doesn’t it?” She summons a smile. “Now, how about that cup o’ tea?”
***
No fool, him. He knows exactly what that cost Jackie. The least he can do is meet her halfway.
“Forget the tea,” he announces, dropping his hands from Jack and Rose’s shoulders. “We’re takin’ you out, Jackie. Dinner. Your choice.”
“Yeah.” Jack grins, squeezing through the limited free space in the tiny kitchen made even smaller by having four adults crammed into it, and wraps an arm around Jackie’s shoulders. “Y’know, this is the first time I’ve visited the 21st century. You’ll have to be my tour-guide. What’s good to eat around here?”
“Chips?” Rose suggests, and the Doctor meets her gaze and grins.
“Nah, you always steal mine.”
“I do not! You steal mine!”
He shakes his head with a grin. “Think we can do better than that, anyway. Jackie?”
Jackie meets his gaze, and there’s a challenge in her eyes - and a warning. “Somewhere posh. An’ you’re gettin’ dressed up for it an’ all - all three of you.”
He groans. Just to rub it in, Rose points at him and laughs. “You’re gonna have to change out of the jacket!”
“I like this jacket,” he mumbles, but nobody’s listening.
***
Coming out of the men’s at the Mexican restaurant, Jack’s waylaid by Jackie. For a moment, remembering what he’s been told about her reputation - and the flirtatious look in her eyes when she first saw him - he’s wary. But now there’s not a trace of that in the way she’s looking at him.
“Want a word,” she says, and there’s tension in her voice.
“Sure.” He takes her elbow and gently steers her towards the bar. It’s obvious this is something she doesn’t want the other two to know about. As long as he can keep it to five minutes they shouldn’t be missed. “What can I do for you, Jackie?”
“Look after Rose,” she says bluntly. “You seem like a decent bloke, an’ at least you’re human, even if you are from thousands of years from now. You understand us lot, unlike him over there.” She jerks her head in the general direction of their table. “Look, Rose says she knows the score, that she’s not gonna get hurt. But she’s said that before, an’ I was the one who had to pick up the pieces when it was all over.”
He nods. Rose told them that story. “Jimmy Stone, right?” Jackie’s eyes widen. Obviously she didn’t expect that he’d know about that stage in Rose’s life. “Just so you know,” he murmurs, leaning in close, “if either the Doctor or I ever run into that piece of human waste, he won’t be walking away from the encounter.”
“Good.” Jackie’s voice is unexpectedly fierce. “An’ just so you know, Captain Jack Harkness, if either you or the Doctor hurt Rose you’re gonna be walking funny for at least a week after I get my hands on you.”
He’d believe it, too.
“Jackie.” He waits until she’s ready to listen. “Look, none of us knows how long this thing is gonna last. But one thing I do know: I love her. Love him, too. And I’d die before I hurt either of them, and I know the same goes for him. Okay?”
Jackie nods. “Should get back. Thanks, Jack.”
He leans in and kisses her cheek. “You’re welcome... Mum.”
Her jaw drops, and she gives his shoulder a shove. “You’re not too old to get a slappin’, you aren’t. Just ask himself.”
“Oh, really?” He grins. That’s definitely a story for later, and one he’s going to enjoy hearing.
***
Jack and Rose are fast asleep when he leaves them silently and heads to the console room. Time to investigate what Jack told him about earlier.
The logs show the incident clearly - including what Jack didn’t tell him. Dalek ships. There were Dalek ships, and that’s what pulled the TARDIS out of the Vortex. Which means that more than one Dalek survived the War.
With shaking hands, he continues to scroll through the logs. Just as Jack said, the ships disappeared. The TARDIS believes they imploded, too, and she’s not easily fooled. All the same... well, he’s going to be on the watch for some time to come.
The satellite the ships had surrounded is one he knows, too. He sets a course for Satellite Five, just in case, materialising on Floor 500. Best check it out, after all. Make sure that he didn’t make a mistake by leaving that time before everything was sorted.
The TARDIS assures him there’s no sign of any spacecraft or other objects anywhere near the satellite. He steps out, hands in his pockets, and looks around him. Everywhere, people are busy tapping away at computers and speaking into communication devices or to each other. The place just looks like a busy television station - but then, it looked like that once before, too.
“Excuse me, can I help you?” a polite voice asks. A young man, the type of bloke Jack would be all over, has left his work-station and come to challenge the intruder. Well, not that it’s a very effective challenge.
Psychic paper is invaluable at a time like this, of course. “Doctor John Smith. Health and safety inspector.”
“Oh! Of course. Davitch Pavale. I’m a programmer.” The man offers his hand. “Where would you like to start?”
He shrugs. “Prefer just to poke around on my own, me. See more that way.”
“Oh, sure.” Pavale backs away a little. Works every time. “If you need to speak to her, the Controller’s over there.” A tall, thin woman moves gracefully through an aisle a few yards away.
He nods and is about to walk away, until a thought strikes him. “Davitch, you’ve not seen anythin’ odd out there recently?” He gestures towards the huge window along one side of the large control-room. “Somethin’ like... I dunno, maybe spaceships?”
Pavale frowns. “Funny you should mention that. We did, just the night before last. A fleet of saucer-shaped ships - at least a hundred of them. They just appeared out of nowhere, and then there was a huge, blinding flash, and when we’d stopped blinking the ships were nowhere to be seen. There was nothing on the scanners, either.”
“Did your scanners pick them up before they disappeared?” he asks quickly.
“Only for a couple of minutes. I can access the records if it would help?”
The Doctor grins. “Davitch Pavale, I like you. Yes, it would help.”
It’s all there on the readout. Two hundred ships surrounding the satellite, just there - and suddenly not. No trace of them since.
“The other thing - and I don’t know if it’s important - is what happened to the Controller,” Davitch continues, sounding hesitant. The Doctor waves him to continue. “You see, for years she was part of the machinery.” Davitch gestures to a point up on the wall, where dozens of cables dangle uselessly. “She was connected to the interface and all the orders came through the circuits, into her, and then transmitted out again to our equipment. Right after the ships vanished, the interface changed. Now - well, you can see for yourself.”
Right. The picture’s starting to come together, and it makes even more sense as he continues to scan the computer and read the history of this station. The Daleks were controlling this place - probably were all along. He’s always wondered who installed the Jagrafess, and now it’s making sense.
But they’ve gone. Their ships are destroyed. At least, he hopes so - and, so far, the TARDIS and all the equipment on this place is telling him they have.
“Thanks, Davitch Pavale. You’ve been very helpful.” He flashes a grin at the man, then heads back toward the TARDIS.
“But what about your inspection...?”
“All done, thanks.” Raising one hand in a wave, he strolls back inside the TARDIS.
It’s been quite a day, in all. Two dragons slain - the Daleks and Jackie Tyler. Not that he’s naïve enough to think of it as a permanent victory in either case; somehow, the Daleks always manage to come back, and Jackie’s going to be a thorn in his side for the rest of her life if she can manage it, but for now he can enjoy some sense of freedom from both of them.
The calm between the storms, probably.
He slips back into bed with Jack and Rose, wraps his arm around their sleeping bodies, and closes his eyes.
- end
Prompt: Nine or Ten, Jack, and Rose. Either Jackie or one of Rose's friends find out about the threesome relationship, and it's not via a planned, sit-down discussion. Do not want: Rose getting disowned.
Author: wmr wendymr
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Jack Harkness, Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: BBC's universe, my imagination
Summary: "Stop looking like you'd rather be facing an army of Zygons than here!" Sequel to Technically Hitched
Written for shengirl as a pinch-hit in the 2009 OT3 Ficathon - sorry it's so late, but I got whumped pretty badly by a nasty bug and am still on antibiotics. With thanks to kae_nine and dark_aegis for help with this! Prompt will be shared at the end.
Chapter 1: Into the Lion's Den
Chapter 2: Immovable Objects and Irresistible Forces
“Doctor!” Disbelieving, she stares at him. What was he thinking?
“All right, Rose.” He stands, shaking his head impatiently at her. Oh, yeah, she knows that look. It’s his patented I know I’ve done something stupid, so don’t rub it in glare.
Well, he got them into this. He can bloody well get them o-
“Jackie. ‘S not what you think.”
Oh, no. No, he didn’t. Her heart sinks and her stomach starts churning. He did, and it’s the worst thing he could possibly have said. Because it’s exactly what her mum thinks, and her mum’s far from the stupid ape the Doctor’s probably thinking she is.
“Oh, yeah?” Her mum’s got her hands on her hips now, and both Jack and the Doctor are sharing the impact of her glare. Her mum’s not looking at her, but she can feel her hands shaking. “So you two blokes aren’t both sleeping with Rose? Having sex with her?”
Jack stands and moves around the coffee-table, then bends and starts picking up the contents of the tray her mum dropped. Bad move. Her mum glowers down at him. “Don’t think that’s getting you off the hook, mate. You an’ him - what, you plan it together? Get her drunk and seduce her one night? Easy enough, all alone up there in space in that ship of yours. Make you feel good, did it?”
“Mum!” Manoeuvring around Jack, even though she’s still shaking, she gets up into her mum’s face. “That’s not fair. It wasn’t like that, anyway. They didn’t seduce me. It was mutual - what we all wanted. Including me.”
“You an’ two blokes? What, do they have you alternate nights, or is all three of you in the one bed?” Scorn drips from her mother’s voice, and she finds herself shrinking back. She might be going on twenty, but her mum can still make her feel no bigger than an ant - and about as troublesome. “There are names for girls like you.”
“An’ if you utter even one of them then all three of us are leaving an’ never coming back,” the Doctor says, a note of terrible warning in his voice. Now he’s scary, and she can see why, as Jack told her once, he’s known by names like the Oncoming Storm and the Bringer of Darkness among his enemies.
“Don’t you dare threaten me in my own home!”
Oh, god. It’s going from bad to worse. No-one’s going to win this. Her mum’ll throw them out and she’s going to have to live with knowing Jack and the Doctor despise her mother, and that her mother thinks she’s a slut.
Ignoring the sick feeling in her stomach, she pushes between the Doctor and her mum. “You’re a fine one to talk, anyway. How many boyfriends have you had in the last year alone?”
“At least I only ever had one at once!”
“Whoa!” Jack’s voice, loud enough to drown all of them out, stuns her into silence. “Enough! Quit raising the stakes, all of you, and let’s sit down and discuss this like adults, all right?”
***
Discuss what like adults? The fact that her daughter’s shagging two blokes, one of them old enough to be her dad and alien besides, and the other who’s too smooth for his own good and looks like he could be bloody dangerous as well?
They both need to feel the flat of her hand, they do. All three of them, in fact - Rose isn’t too old for a good slap either, little madam that she is.
But she doesn’t lash out, easy though it’d be, as close as she’s standing to that bloody alien and to Rose. Maybe that Jack’s got a point. If she slaps them, or if she says the words that’re on the tip of her tongue, what happens?
It’s obvious what happens, isn’t it? They’ll be gone, all three of them. She’ll never see or speak to Rose again. Jackie Tyler knows her daughter too well to expect anything else. Every bit as stubborn as she is herself, Rose is. And as for the Doctor, she’s seen him carry through his threats, hasn’t she? He warned those Slitheen things, and then he stopped them, just as he said he would. He killed them. Yeah, they deserved it, but there’s something about him that makes her wonder if that even mattered to him.
Before she can say anything, the Doctor’s speaking. “He’s right.” The alien takes a step back, dropping a hand onto Rose’s shoulder at the same time. “Come on, Rose. Won’t solve anythin’ like this.”
And that’s when Jackie knows that, unless she treads very carefully here, she’ll have lost her daughter permanently. Because Rose looks up at the Doctor, and the love and trust in her eyes is a look Jackie’s used to seeing directed at her, and she’s only seen it directed at one bloke before. Jimmy Stone, and wasn’t that a disaster right from the start? She nearly lost Rose over him. She’s not going to make the same mistake again.
So, as Rose slides one hand into the Doctor’s, and reaches out to Jack with the other, Jackie looks straight at the three of them, squashing all the hostility and fear she’s felt from the instant she realised what’s going on. “Right, then. Sit down an’ start talking, all of you. I’m listenin’.”
***
Disaster averted - for now, at least. He would’ve expected the Doctor to know better, even if Rose and her mum let their emotions run away with them.
Now, as long as none of them says anything else stupid, or winds somebody up - well, the best way to avoid that is to keep charge of the situation. Take the initiative. Yes, Jackie Tyler thinks he and the Doctor are perverts who need to be arrested, and she’s probably convinced that Rose is either brainwashed or seriously misguided, but the situation’s not irretrievable. Or so he hopes, anyway.
Jack leans forward in the chair he’s just resumed, resting his joined hands on his knees. “Jackie - Mrs Tyler - I’m not surprised you’re upset, and I can understand why. But it’s not like you’re thinking.”
Jackie looks straight at him and raises her eyebrows, and abruptly he feels as if he’s twelve again. “He already tried that one.” She jerks her head towards the Doctor. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Captain Jack Harkness - assuming that’s even your real name.” He tries not to twitch. “You trying to tell me you’re not sleeping with my daughter?”
“No, I’m not trying to tell you that.” Time Agency stress training has its benefits. He smiles at Jackie, careful not to appear over-confident. “We’re in a relationship, the three of us. It’s not just sex, Jackie.”
The Doctor’s unusually silent, which Jack takes as implicit permission to keep control of the conversation. Rose, sitting next to the Doctor on the sofa, and opposite her mum in the other armchair, holds the Doctor’s hand. At least she’s looking less defiant now. Well, more worried than anything else.
“Not just sex? What’s that supposed to mean?” Jackie’s still sounding sceptical, but at least she’s not looking as if she’s two steps away from calling the police any more.
Cards on the table, then. “I love Rose. And so does he, though he’ll never say it.” He inclines his head in the Doctor’s direction. The Doctor grunts something that could be agreement, though it could just as easily be a warning never to touch his precious sonic screwdriver again. “I’d love her regardless of whether I was having sex with her.” He shrugs. “Whether or not you believe it, or whether or not that makes anything better, that’s the way it is between us.”
“Thing is, Jackie,” the Doctor says abruptly, dropping Rose’s hand and sitting forward, “this sort o’ thing is common all around the universe - an’ in your planet’s future, too. Like Jack’s time. He’s from the fifty-first century. Can even have threesome, foursome marriages when he’s from, an’ on plenty of other planets too.”
“An’ that’s supposed to make it all right? This is Earth, 2006, in case you lot had forgotten.” Jackie’s eyes flash. “S’pose next you’re gonna tell me I’m just backward, right?”
“Course not,” the Doctor retorts before Jack can say a word. “Just explainin’ how we see it, that’s all.”
“Yeah?” She’s still belligerent. Unless they can find a way to make a breakthrough pretty soon, this is going to end badly, and Rose will be upset.
“Mum.” Rose stands suddenly. “How about some more tea, yeah?”
***
It’s not fair to leave her men to make all the explanations - or take all the rough edge of her mum’s tongue.
Back in the kitchen - and trying to hide her relief that her mum actually came with her - she fills the kettle and sets out a fresh tray before turning to her mum. “It’s true, what Jack said. I love them both. They love me too.” Reaching for teabags, she adds, “I know it’s not what you ever imagined for me, but I’m happy, Mum, I really am. They look after me an’ I look after them.”
Her mum’s silent as she rinses out the cups Jack rescued from the floor. Definitely an ominous sign, she knows, because her mum’s never quiet. Finally, though, she turns and just looks at Rose for several seconds before nodding.
“Yeah. I can see you’re happy, sweetheart. I still don’t like it.”
“Mum-”
“No, you let me have my say, Rose Tyler. You owe me that much. You weren’t gonna tell me about any of this, were you? If that Doctor hadn’t opened his mouth an’ stuck his foot in it I still wouldn’t have a clue that my own daughter’s havin’ a fling with two blokes.”
True. But there were good reasons for that, starting with the way her mum launched into the three of them out there. “We didn’t-”
“Oh, I know you’re an adult. Not as if I can stop you doing anything you want to do, can I?” Her mum’s on a roll now. There’s no stopping her. “I’m your mum, Rose, not your jailer. I want you to tell me stuff, not cause...” She sighs, leaning against the sink. “I hardly see you these days, an’ you don’t phone much, either.”
So that’s it. Well, part of it, anyway. “Thing is, when I do tell you stuff you throw a fit.” She pulls a face, then moves closer to her mum, reaching out to pull her close. “But, all right, I’m sorry. An’ I know you’re worried about me, but you don’t have to be. Like I said, they’re good blokes. They’re not taking advantage.”
“Yeah, I know that.” Rose’s eyes widen and she pulls back, staring at her mother. “Can see it, can’t I? That Doctor bloke - I might not like ‘im, but it’s obvious to a blind man that he’d never hurt you. An’ that Jack... I can see it in his face every time he looks at you. Look, maybe it’s not what I’m used to, but you’ve got two gorgeous blokes crazy about you. You’d be a fool not to be up for that.” Her mum smiles, and it’s almost wistful. “Course you’re happy, an’ course I’m not gonna say you shouldn’t be. I’m not even upset about the fact that you’re sleepin’ with both of them. Should be, I s’pose, but I’m not.”
That sends a jolt through her. “You’re not?”
“No. Was just a shock, that’s all. No, what worries me is what happens when those two get tired of playin’ happy families, that’s all.”
She’s about to protest that she’s not naïve, that she knows it won’t last, when she remembers the last time her mum said something along those lines with that same look of worry in her eyes. It was when she announced she was leaving school and moving in with Jimmy Stone. She completely ignored all her mum’s warnings that it wouldn’t work, that blokes like Jimmy never stay around very long and that she was likely to find herself dumped and alone - and, unless she was sensible, pregnant. Jimmy wasn’t like that, she insisted. Her mum was too bloody cynical about men.
Of course, her mum was right. Then, anyway. Now, she’s got more sense than to expect happy ever. Not from blokes as used to moving on as the Doctor and Jack.
Hasn’t her mum got good reason to be cynical, though? All the men she’d pinned hopes on over the years who turned out to be not what they seemed. And, as a memory returns of her mum’s face back in 1987, outside the church, another possibility occurs to her. Maybe her dad wasn’t the innocent one; maybe her mum had grounds for accusing him of always sticking to the closest blonde.
“Mum.” She lays a hand on her mother’s shoulder. “I know the Doctor and Jack aren’t the happy ever after type. I’ve already thought about that, yeah? I’m gonna enjoy this for as long as it lasts, but I’m not naïve enough to think this is the rest of my life.”
The relief that instantly appears in her mum’s eyes makes her glad she made the effort. “Rose, love-”
“Jackie.” The Doctor’s voice comes from the doorway, interrupting them. “Jack an’ I need to tell you something else.”
She turns and gives the Doctor a puzzled look. Behind him, Jack catches her eye, then holds up his left hand to reveal his ring securely back on his finger. Her gaze shoots to the Doctor. He’s wearing his ring as well - and he’s holding out his hand towards her mum, palm down.
“See? The ring, I mean. Rose has one too. We all do.”
***
What?
“You trying to tell me you’re married, an’ all?”
She has to lean back against the counter for support. She’s only just got her head around the idea that Rose is shagging two blokes, one alien and the other from the future, in that TARDIS-thing out there in space. It was a relief when Rose said it wasn’t serious, that she wasn’t imagining it’d last forever.
And now this? “Rose? You didn’t say a word about this!”
Rose is looking dumbstruck, as if the blokes just blindsided her. Her mouth opens, but she can’t seem to say a word.
“It’s not marriage, exactly.” Jack steps forward and into the kitchen, brushing past the Doctor. The room suddenly feels tiny. “They’re bonding rings. It’s like... I suppose the simplest way to describe it is a promise to each other-”
“To trust an’ love an’ defend each other as long as we stay together.” Jackie’s mouth slackens, both at the Doctor’s words and the fact that he’s come to stand behind Jack, laying one hand on Jack’s shoulder and the other on Rose’s.
All three of them? The Doctor and Jack are...? Yeah, they are. It’s plain as the nose on her face now. She should have seen it sooner.
Rose is digging in her jeans pocket, and there it is - a ring, smaller than the other two, and silver-coloured instead of black, but with the same design.
Not married, that Jack bloke’s said, but it feels bloody like it. Looks like it, too.
“The Doctor’s right,” Rose says, looking up at Jackie as she slides the ring back on her finger - where the skin’s already a bit paler and there’s even a faint indentation. “We’re there for each other, whatever happens. ‘S like... well, sort of like being married, but without the till death us do part bit.”
“You weren’t even going to tell me,” she says, and part of her wants to yell at them and kick them out of her flat. After all, if Rose can’t even tell her about this what does that say about her place in her daughter’s life?
On the other hand, if she does that she’s the one who’ll lose, isn’t she? She’ll lose her daughter.
“That was my fault, Jackie.” The Doctor even looks apologetic. “I told Rose not to. Figured you’d be upset. Well, not as if I’m one of your favourite people, is it?”
No argument from her there. But, all the same... well, he has made Rose happier than she’s been ever since before Jimmy Stone, hasn’t he? And it’s obvious that the two of them would die before they let anything happen to her.
And they came home with Rose. Came to see her. They didn’t have to do that. Could have just let Rose visit on her own. But they came. That counts for something, doesn’t it?
It’s down to her now, isn’t it? And holding onto her pride’s not worth the cost.
“Well, s’pose that makes you both family now, doesn’t it?” She summons a smile. “Now, how about that cup o’ tea?”
***
No fool, him. He knows exactly what that cost Jackie. The least he can do is meet her halfway.
“Forget the tea,” he announces, dropping his hands from Jack and Rose’s shoulders. “We’re takin’ you out, Jackie. Dinner. Your choice.”
“Yeah.” Jack grins, squeezing through the limited free space in the tiny kitchen made even smaller by having four adults crammed into it, and wraps an arm around Jackie’s shoulders. “Y’know, this is the first time I’ve visited the 21st century. You’ll have to be my tour-guide. What’s good to eat around here?”
“Chips?” Rose suggests, and the Doctor meets her gaze and grins.
“Nah, you always steal mine.”
“I do not! You steal mine!”
He shakes his head with a grin. “Think we can do better than that, anyway. Jackie?”
Jackie meets his gaze, and there’s a challenge in her eyes - and a warning. “Somewhere posh. An’ you’re gettin’ dressed up for it an’ all - all three of you.”
He groans. Just to rub it in, Rose points at him and laughs. “You’re gonna have to change out of the jacket!”
“I like this jacket,” he mumbles, but nobody’s listening.
***
Coming out of the men’s at the Mexican restaurant, Jack’s waylaid by Jackie. For a moment, remembering what he’s been told about her reputation - and the flirtatious look in her eyes when she first saw him - he’s wary. But now there’s not a trace of that in the way she’s looking at him.
“Want a word,” she says, and there’s tension in her voice.
“Sure.” He takes her elbow and gently steers her towards the bar. It’s obvious this is something she doesn’t want the other two to know about. As long as he can keep it to five minutes they shouldn’t be missed. “What can I do for you, Jackie?”
“Look after Rose,” she says bluntly. “You seem like a decent bloke, an’ at least you’re human, even if you are from thousands of years from now. You understand us lot, unlike him over there.” She jerks her head in the general direction of their table. “Look, Rose says she knows the score, that she’s not gonna get hurt. But she’s said that before, an’ I was the one who had to pick up the pieces when it was all over.”
He nods. Rose told them that story. “Jimmy Stone, right?” Jackie’s eyes widen. Obviously she didn’t expect that he’d know about that stage in Rose’s life. “Just so you know,” he murmurs, leaning in close, “if either the Doctor or I ever run into that piece of human waste, he won’t be walking away from the encounter.”
“Good.” Jackie’s voice is unexpectedly fierce. “An’ just so you know, Captain Jack Harkness, if either you or the Doctor hurt Rose you’re gonna be walking funny for at least a week after I get my hands on you.”
He’d believe it, too.
“Jackie.” He waits until she’s ready to listen. “Look, none of us knows how long this thing is gonna last. But one thing I do know: I love her. Love him, too. And I’d die before I hurt either of them, and I know the same goes for him. Okay?”
Jackie nods. “Should get back. Thanks, Jack.”
He leans in and kisses her cheek. “You’re welcome... Mum.”
Her jaw drops, and she gives his shoulder a shove. “You’re not too old to get a slappin’, you aren’t. Just ask himself.”
“Oh, really?” He grins. That’s definitely a story for later, and one he’s going to enjoy hearing.
***
Jack and Rose are fast asleep when he leaves them silently and heads to the console room. Time to investigate what Jack told him about earlier.
The logs show the incident clearly - including what Jack didn’t tell him. Dalek ships. There were Dalek ships, and that’s what pulled the TARDIS out of the Vortex. Which means that more than one Dalek survived the War.
With shaking hands, he continues to scroll through the logs. Just as Jack said, the ships disappeared. The TARDIS believes they imploded, too, and she’s not easily fooled. All the same... well, he’s going to be on the watch for some time to come.
The satellite the ships had surrounded is one he knows, too. He sets a course for Satellite Five, just in case, materialising on Floor 500. Best check it out, after all. Make sure that he didn’t make a mistake by leaving that time before everything was sorted.
The TARDIS assures him there’s no sign of any spacecraft or other objects anywhere near the satellite. He steps out, hands in his pockets, and looks around him. Everywhere, people are busy tapping away at computers and speaking into communication devices or to each other. The place just looks like a busy television station - but then, it looked like that once before, too.
“Excuse me, can I help you?” a polite voice asks. A young man, the type of bloke Jack would be all over, has left his work-station and come to challenge the intruder. Well, not that it’s a very effective challenge.
Psychic paper is invaluable at a time like this, of course. “Doctor John Smith. Health and safety inspector.”
“Oh! Of course. Davitch Pavale. I’m a programmer.” The man offers his hand. “Where would you like to start?”
He shrugs. “Prefer just to poke around on my own, me. See more that way.”
“Oh, sure.” Pavale backs away a little. Works every time. “If you need to speak to her, the Controller’s over there.” A tall, thin woman moves gracefully through an aisle a few yards away.
He nods and is about to walk away, until a thought strikes him. “Davitch, you’ve not seen anythin’ odd out there recently?” He gestures towards the huge window along one side of the large control-room. “Somethin’ like... I dunno, maybe spaceships?”
Pavale frowns. “Funny you should mention that. We did, just the night before last. A fleet of saucer-shaped ships - at least a hundred of them. They just appeared out of nowhere, and then there was a huge, blinding flash, and when we’d stopped blinking the ships were nowhere to be seen. There was nothing on the scanners, either.”
“Did your scanners pick them up before they disappeared?” he asks quickly.
“Only for a couple of minutes. I can access the records if it would help?”
The Doctor grins. “Davitch Pavale, I like you. Yes, it would help.”
It’s all there on the readout. Two hundred ships surrounding the satellite, just there - and suddenly not. No trace of them since.
“The other thing - and I don’t know if it’s important - is what happened to the Controller,” Davitch continues, sounding hesitant. The Doctor waves him to continue. “You see, for years she was part of the machinery.” Davitch gestures to a point up on the wall, where dozens of cables dangle uselessly. “She was connected to the interface and all the orders came through the circuits, into her, and then transmitted out again to our equipment. Right after the ships vanished, the interface changed. Now - well, you can see for yourself.”
Right. The picture’s starting to come together, and it makes even more sense as he continues to scan the computer and read the history of this station. The Daleks were controlling this place - probably were all along. He’s always wondered who installed the Jagrafess, and now it’s making sense.
But they’ve gone. Their ships are destroyed. At least, he hopes so - and, so far, the TARDIS and all the equipment on this place is telling him they have.
“Thanks, Davitch Pavale. You’ve been very helpful.” He flashes a grin at the man, then heads back toward the TARDIS.
“But what about your inspection...?”
“All done, thanks.” Raising one hand in a wave, he strolls back inside the TARDIS.
It’s been quite a day, in all. Two dragons slain - the Daleks and Jackie Tyler. Not that he’s naïve enough to think of it as a permanent victory in either case; somehow, the Daleks always manage to come back, and Jackie’s going to be a thorn in his side for the rest of her life if she can manage it, but for now he can enjoy some sense of freedom from both of them.
The calm between the storms, probably.
He slips back into bed with Jack and Rose, wraps his arm around their sleeping bodies, and closes his eyes.
- end
Prompt: Nine or Ten, Jack, and Rose. Either Jackie or one of Rose's friends find out about the threesome relationship, and it's not via a planned, sit-down discussion. Do not want: Rose getting disowned.